Friday, February 10, 2017

Is this a new technique? It's one I've never read about if it is, and the new Stampin' Up set, Dragonfly Dreams, inspired it.

Like lots of stamp sets these days, this one has coordinating dies. These are especially popular with those of us who don't like to fussy cut everything. (I do love me some fussy cutting - but not all the time.)

I started out stamping just the solid wings on a white folded card with VersaMark, then I "painted" on PearlEx powder over the wings. The powder sticks to the PearlEx and gently blows off the white paper.

Then I stamped the detailed dragonfly with black StazOn onto a small piece of acetate and ran that image through the die cutter. NOTE: When cutting acetate, I add a piece of tissue paper to aid in the cutting. The sandwich is "die-acetate-tissue paper." I'm sure you can use cardstock or copy paper in place of the tissue paper. The paper gives the die some bite so the image cuts out instead of just making a sharp indentation in the acetate.

I glued the diecut dragonfly only on the body portion, leaving the translucent wings to hover gently over the paper and create shadows. The PearlEx gives the illusion that the wings are colored, but we know the color is under the wings.

I loved the look of this card, and I wanted to try it on other stamps, but this stamp set is pretty rare. It has a detailed stamp and a matching solid stamp and a matching die. So . . . how could I try this technique on any old stamp?

I stamped this Valentine heart from Stampington and Company with black StazOn onto acetate. I used a MISTI to make sure it didn't smear. Stamping on acetate can be tricky.

Then I cut the heart out, being very careful to have a neat "mortise" mask remaining.

I placed the mask over a white folded card, and carefully applied VersaMark in the unmasked area.

I started painting different areas of the VersaMarked heart with PearlEx.

Here is a photo of the painted heart and the stamped heart on acetate . . .

. . . and here they are put together. It's almost too perfect - too flat. When I die cut the dragonfly earlier, the wings of the dragonfly automatically raised a bit due to the die cutting effect. But this heart was cut out with scissors. I needed to do something to make that heart not lie so flat.

The heat gun worked great to make the plastic not lie flat.

Here's a close-up to show the shimmer. It kind of looks like the heart is smaller than the shadow behind it, but actually the left side of the heart is curled up a bit.

Here is the finished Valentine's Day card. And below are two different cards using different color combinations.

Monday, September 5, 2016

Just a couple more cards I was able to finish this Labor Day Weekend. It was so nice having a 3-day weekend.

This card uses retired Stampin Up stamps. Who cares? They are so pretty. There is a big background toile that I don't even remember the name of, the flower from Still Life Stems, and overtop of everything is the Linen background stamp. So beautiful! I stamped, sponged, and colored with Copics. The corner dies are by Marianne.

And here is a card that started entirely with the background. I was playing with alcohol inks on a piece of acetate. Somehow I thought it would be good to paint the back of the acetate with metallic pigment inks. This was not a good idea as I discovered the following day that it was never going to dry. So I poured some clear embossing powder on it and heated it with a heat gun. I was suprised that it didn't warp more than it did.

So then I die cut it, and finally tonight, after trying several things with it, decided that copper leaves would be cool. These leaf dies are from Spellbinders, and the "thanks" is from Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft.

Tomorrow I have to go to work. Kind of sad. But it will be good to get back to a routine.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

On Splitcoaststampers today, the "Featured Stamper" is a very talented lady named Marg Mortimer. We were challenged to pick a card from her Splitcoast Gallery and do our take on it. Here is the card that Marg crated which is the inspiration for my card:

And here is the card that I made. As you can see, I reimagined it as an accordian card.

First I die cut three panels from Karen Burniston's accordian oval die. Then, just like Marg, I made my own stencil. I used a corner leaf die from Marianne Designs (I think Marg used a punch, but same difference). Then I airbrushed the stencil in each of the corners of the previously die cut using a Copic W9 marker.

I also used Marianne leaf dies and Karen Burniston oval dies to cut out a leaf window for each oval. Then I airbrushed the background for the leaf windows.

I airbrushed another panel and then stamped and gold embossed leaves, which I fussy cut out.

Saturday, September 3, 2016

I don't think I've ever done this before - change a card and repost it - but I was not happy with the faux stitching on the card from this post. It was too heavy and way too crooked. Too heavy because I think the white gel pen I was using was too juicy. Too crooked because - that was totally my bad.

So I got my sewing machine set up again after years and a move. In fact when I first plugged the machine in last night it immediately began to run. After a series of plugging and unplugging and wiggling wires, etc., I discovered that when I pressed the pedal of the running-at-full-speed machine, the light would come on. Duh . . . I had the plugs crossed.

Then there was a lot of jamming of the bobbin thread, which precipitated my discovering that I forgot how to properly thread the stupid thing.

Finally . . . success!

As you can see, I also changed the background of the "Tip Top Taupe" layer.

But also, it turns out that the Splitcoast Stampers color challenge this week is "Cajun Curry and Chocolate in the Garden." So I redid the card in those colors as well. Plus I made the sunflower bigger. Which is one of the joys of digital stamps.

For this card, I colored the sunflower with Copics, and these are the markers I used to come closest to Cajun Craze, Curry Crush, Garden Green, and Chocolate.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

It also happens to combine a couple of challenges. One is the Copy, Steal, Inspire challenge over at Power Poppy. And boy did I bring this one in under the wire. The card that I was inspired by is right here. It was created by Tosha Leyendekker.

The other challenge is actually a Splitcoast tutorial, and it's something that I used to do quite a bit of back in the day, but I hadn't done it in a long time: Palette Blending.

Basically palette blending is scribbling your regular water-based markers onto a piece of plastic or other smooth surface and picking up the marker ink with a paint brush.

Okay, I got a little fast and loose with the faux stitching, but look at the layers on that Power Poppy sunflower!

It also happens to combine a couple of challenges. One is the Copy, Steal, Inspire challenge over at Power Poppy. And boy did I bring this one in under the wire. The card that I was inspired by is right here.

The other is actually a Splitcoast tutorial, and it's something that I used to do quite a bit of back in the day, but I hadn't done it in a long time: Palette Blending.

Basically palette blending is scribbling your regular water-based markers onto a piece of plastic or other smooth surface and picking up the marker ink with a paint brush.

Okay, I got a little fast and loose with the faux stitching, but look at the layers on that Power Poppy sunflower!

Friday, August 26, 2016

It has been a long time since I played along with a challenge over at Splitcoaststampers, but it's really fun for me when I do. This week I thought I would use the sketch challenge as my muse, particularly Sketch Challenge 607. Here is the sketch:

And here is my card!

I started out by making a background. I used some fall leaves on the edges in Dapper Denim and Always Artichoke ink (Stampin Up's alliterative color names), and then stamped a French script background. All of these stamps are retired.

Maybe my favorite element is this brick. I used a brick embossing folder and then just dragged Crazed Cajun, Real Red, and Cherry Cobbler ink pad across it.

This bird is from the Best Birds SU stamp set. As you can see, I airbrushed him with Copic markers. This is an unbelievably quick way to color something, but it only works if you are going to cut it out. I have the die that matches this stamp, but it doesn't cut as closely as my scissors.

I worked and worked with an entirely different background for "Panel 6" (see above), and I just couldn't get one that would look awesome with this bird. So I browsed through my dies to get some inspiration, and I found it! The sign holder was cut from black paper and then I used some metallic rub-ons. The sign itself was cut out of white cardstock, the frame was colored black with a black Copic marker, and then the same metallic rub-on was applied. The stamp is from SU's Established Elegance stamp set.

Then I put it all together. I'm going to go home tonight and see what other Splitcoast challenges strike my fancy. That was fun!